The new Main Street entrance to the Bel Air Municipal Parking Garage has opened.

The entrance, which is off of Burns Alley between Courtland Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, was put in to work in conjunction with the new Main Street surface lot the town opened in July on the site of the former BB&T building.

Traffic that enters the Main Street lot has the option of using one of the metered spaces on the lot or, if no spaces are available or the weather is rainy or snowy, a motorist can simply drive through the surface lot, cross Burns Alley and enter the parking garage.

The height clearance for the new parking garage entrance is 6 feet, 11 inches. There isn't, however, an exit at this point. Those leaving the garage must continue to use the existing exits at Courtland Street and Hickory Avenue. The Pennsylvania Avenue entrance is also one-way into the facility.

The meters on the Main Street surface lot have a two-hour limit. Like those in the parking garage and elsewhere around town, the hourly rate for Bel Air parking meters is 50 cents. The town raised the rate from 25 cents in June.

The Town of Bel Air and Harford County, who share ownership of the parking garage, are involved with a $900,000 project to renovate and repair parts of the building, of which the new entrance is a part.

The town owns the Main Street surface lot. Including buying and demolishing the BB&T building, constructing and equipping the new lot and landscaping and other site amenities, the town is spending about $1.6 million on the parking lot project.